By COLlive reporter
Transaero Airlines, based in S. Petersburg, Russia, is refuting the notion made by Mussie Weinfeld, a girl from Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, that her alertness has led to the airline grounding a faulty aircraft.
Ekaterina Makarova, Media Relations Manager at Transaero Airlines, sent the following statement to COLlive.com in response to an article titled: Girl’s Vigilance Saves Airline.
Here is the statement in full:
A number of Israel’s media have published an information assuming that a passenger of Transaero’s UN312 flight carried out on April 12, 2015 contributed to detecting a defect in the aircraft condition.
As the initial information was published in the Jewish media outlets with no comments requested either from the airline nor from independent aviation experts who could have helped to understand the actual state of the matter, the information was misinterpreted.
The airline finds it necessary to clarify the real circumstances. When carrying out the mandatory pre-flight system check at the engine starting point, the flight crew reported the indication of asymmetric work of slats.
The flight crew called for specialists of the handling company of Ben Gurion Airport. The diagnostics, carried out by the specialists, showed that the aircraft having this defect should not be operated on this flight.
At the time when the flight crew and the specialists of the airport were carrying out checks, one of the passengers reported to the cabin crew that she heard ambient noise.
Although the passenger, indeed, drew higher attention to the noise, the decision to suspend the aircraft from operations was not made upon the information received from her, but as the result of the technical check of the aircraft.
The aviation has strict regulations and rules of control over all systems of aircraft as part of pre-flight checks and preparatory operations. They were fully observed by the crew as well as by the specialists of the handling company.
Over 24 years of Transaero’s history, flight safety has always been and, at present, remains one of the top priorities of Transaero Airlines. Transaero has always been following the strict rules of preflight aircraft checks. Due to the airline’s highest consideration to safety issues, Transaero Airlines is included in the top 20 safest airlines in the world and the top 6 safest airlines in Europe in the international ranking of JACDEC research agency.
They might of just lost a few thousand costumers just now….
Its just the airlines way of saying, “we’re safe, we’re safe.”
how dare they say “engine start”. We were on the runway ready to take off and stewardesses were already belted in when they decided to turn plane around. The engine was already going for at least 10 minutes to get from the gate to the runway and we were still told that all was fine.
Why does it bother you that Lubavitchers would “make” a fellow Lubavitcher “a hero?” Have you not read other news media or magazines originating in other circles? They do the same with their “heroes” and there’s nothing wrong with that. If it bothers you to read about Lubavitcher “heroes” I suggest you not visit the COLLIVE website. Of course, you’d be missing out on quite a bit…
Just like other “news items” that col publishes that many of they’re reader base believes because that is what some “witness” claims.
Col be a responsible media outlet. Readers, use your brains and insight when reading the “news”
Certainly, here you go: (page 19 of manual) Aft er pushback has been completed, set the parking brake. It is now time for engine Start. As you go through the engine start sequence, you should see the N2 setting for the right engine of the airplane start increasing. Once the N2 has accelerated past 20% then the right fuel selector should be turned to on. Once the Engine has finished starting, the right ignition switch will automatically flip back into the AUTO position. Repeat this same process for starting the left engine. Perform your post-engine startup checklist items, turn on… Read more »
Come on people… Ahavas Yisroel!!!! No need to start going on at each other. Bh the people on this plane were saved! Let’s celebrate rather that than starting arguments! We need to do more to bring Moshiach now!!!
To # 67, as you seem to be so studied, why don’t you save us all the tedious time of paging through a huge Boeing manual as you indicate you have done. Please cite the section in the Boeing Manual where it basically states that if a Captain discovers an apparent problem of ‘asymmetric slats’ during the routine pre-flight systems check that the following is the protocol should be followed:(as it appears in #67’s copy of the Boeing Manual): Boeing recomends for the Airport Specialist to conduct a diagnoses of the reported asymmetric slats problem by instructing the pilot to… Read more »
If that is all you have going for you, please refer to page 19 of the operation manual, and you will see how woefully wrong you are.
Seriously, Why do so many of you feel such a need to gain inspiration from a false story? Do you not have any true stories to strengthen your Emuna?
Since they were already in seatbelts ready to take off, go Mussie!
PROOF: If they were anyway planning on checking the plane before it took off why didn’t they just tell the girl that they anyway check the plane before takeoff instead of just laughing her off
It is actually easy for anybody to do fact checking.
What you are looking for is the instruction manual for a Boing 767. The file is available online, called B767 Manual.pdf
If you read the startup instructions, and the checklist at the end, you will see that it verifies the airline’s account.
let bygones be bygones how is it going to help you to discuss if the airlines were lying or not bottom line is that the plane was saved who cares who saved it the only thing you are going to gain is loshon hara galore
We all genuinely agree that we enjoy and are grateful to COL News Service for its public service in keeping us informed. It thus seems logical that since this story has attracted so much interest perhaps COL can do some investigative reporting for their readership. The question here which begs an answer can be determined through official experts on this matter. This infact is a perfect opportunity for ‘COL Community News Service’ to do some fact checking reporting to satisfy the curiosity of its countless readers. What are the facts? Are ‘the specific safety checks’ which the airline claims were… Read more »
But הבעיה שהתגלתה זה בעיה של העובדים בנמל התעופה בן גוריון זה היה האחריות שלהם לגלות תתקלה לפני שמאשרים למטוס להמריא משדה התעופה.
Welcome to the internet!
I flew to and from Israel recently on a Russian Airline (not Transaero ) and indeed they do run engine test shortly AFTER the plane leaves the gate( the plane stops and they turn engines on real high for a few minutes and then continue on their way).
Commenting on this story with no technical knowledge of how aircraft work is like the patient who thinks they know better than the surgeon. Some pre-flight checks can only be performed with the engine on, which only takes place once that plain is out of the gate. So the airlines version of events is very reasonable, and it would be highly unusual for a true mechanical issue to be only be able to be recognised by sound and not through the standard pre-flight checks. Do you think that airlines do not have robust pre-flight checks that are capable of picking… Read more »
she absolutely saved it there is just anti semitism…
welcome to col!
They are just jealous that a teenager found a problem that the “professionals” couldn’t find
Just like other “news items” that col publishes that many of they’re reader base believes because that is what some “witness” claims.
Col be a responsible media outlet. Readers, use your brains and insight when reading the “news”
Aerortrans parrant
A number of Israel’s media have published an information …
there is no such thing as “an information”. It has to say information or define what type of information like information bulletin or something of that sort.
I guess the lady writing the report may not be a native English speaker so I’ll cut here some slack on this one.
What would happen If Rachmana Litzlan she did not hear those OMG… I don’t even want to think about it… She saved them ll!!
I’m not a Lubavitcher. But there is one thing I can say, I was on that plane – I saw everything that went on there. The girl which I later found it is Mussie Weinfeld I saw her going to the stewardess and saying she does not want to fly until they check it out.. They all laughed at her. Me to.. I also laughed at her, vitor there between is totally fine and everything will be ok. Now she saved MY life!! I owe her a special thank you! And let the airline say whatever they want that they… Read more »
How come they told passengers that I was cuz they cudnt fly certain housr?!
sometimes airlines such as this one make shorter and smaller inspections of planes to save money. And only once in a while will they do a full inspection. Especially if tue plane JUST flew… They prob figured it just flew lets do an casual inspection.. Nothing major.. In the meantime they missed the real problem.
Although the passenger, indeed, drew higher attention to the noise, the decision to suspend the aircraft from operations was not made upon the information received from her, but as the result of the technical check of the aircraft.
That’s not what the girl said. She said she made them check it. they were going to take off. It seems like this airline is clearly lying. How can they change the facts, if everyone on the airplane saw that they were ready for takeoff, and this girl refused to sit down??
Did you read what I wrote or not? Are you comparing cars to a plane. When you drive your car , you dont precheck it, you just turn the engine on, and if it works you start driving. Planes dont work that way. They are pretested for safety, and no one is allowed to board a plane until all the tests are run, including running thr the engine. This plane was already on its way to the runway with all doors shut. It is very obvious what happened here.
I know for a fact that the girl did save the flight, because I read about it on the internet! So it must be true!
Pre flight inspection is and should be before takeoff when all are in seatbelts. The girl did great.
They just dont want to admit that their plane was unsafe! They were already ON the runway, ready to take off!!
when flying with this airline always fly with a chabadnik on the plane!
The Yiddishe velt loves stories like these. They are mehazek many and foster emunah in haKadosh Baruch Hu. Nevertheless, one must be careful when publishing them on the internet and releasing them to news sources, especially when one places the reputation of a business at risk. Transaero is understanably upset and completely reasonable in publicizing their own side of the story. Routes from North America to E. Yisrael are lucrative for them and that business should not be needlessly jeopardized. The fact that no aviation expert has been consulted on this story is also troubling. This perspective is important as… Read more »
And you also need to move the plane to see. I think that you should even take off to see if it’s all going well.
I Once flew Brittish Airways from NY to London and the food was great!
Certain checks are made before boarding others are made as they travel to the runway
They can’t say thank you. Russians
Because they didn’t discover the problem until the engines were runing which isn’t randomly done, only for flight, u can’t see that ur car is stalling when the engine is off!!!
This airline are such liars!
This airline are such liars!
Cuz the flight attendants were used to seeing technichians because had u read u would have seen that the problem was caught during a standard procedure of technichians inspecting the plane!
No one can know all the bullets they’ve dodged. We don’t know what would have happened if she had not spoken up – because she DID speak up. Maybe the plane would still have been delayed, then passengers deplaned, etc. We just don’t know.
What we DO know is: A young woman believed something was not right, and she had the courage to speak up. This alone is enough for her to earn my congratulations and appreciation.
flight safety is so high in israel there is no way they would let a faulty flight go but nu nu its a good story
lubavitcher girl saves flight!!!
nu nu let them have fun
So obvious that they are trying to cover up this PR nightmare. I am sorry, but people have to remember that ethics have different standards depending on the culture.
Good on the young woman for raising a ruckus. She probably did save that plane.
COLlive I think you guys should change the header of this article. ToTransaero: Girl ‘Saved’ Airline. That’s exactly what the statement is saying but in their own words. Trying to get people to still fly with them.
they check BEFORE ppl board the plane.. why would every1 get on and then they supposedly check?? lies.
“Over 24 years of Transaero’s history, flight safety has always been and, at present, remains one of the top priorities of Transaero Airlines”
So flight safety remains “one of” the top priorities. Meaning certain important aspects of the airlines operations is more important then flight safety…
Like say ticket sales? And having a passenger point out a faulty aircraft is probably not very good for ticket sales.
Give me one reason they WOULDN’T claim so, and would in fact admit that the passenger’s uproar was what led to the life saving discoveries.
Stop arguing over things you don’t know and if you do know better open your own airline and make sure your flights have no issues
The airline will not be careless about safety as it wants to be in business and caters to a large multinational clientele and not just to Russians. They will not risk a plane CH”V going down as that could destroy them. Not listening to the girl was more a matter of poor communication as the English announcements on the flight is in such a heavily Russian accented English so that is practically impossible to understand. Other than that one complaint ( plus the Russian flight attendants do not know how to smile) my flights on that airlines were perfect, the… Read more »
I checked with the big news channels such as ערוץ עשר, ערוץ שבע, and they told me that they indeed spoke to the airline and they did give permission to post the article. I guess afterwards they decided to put out a letter.. But they aren’t so smart.. And no one will believe them for so many reasons.. Especially due to this that you don’t start moving on a runway while having a problem on your flight..
An airline known for trying to cover up for themselfs and turning out with failure. We all know the truth of the matter..
If this is true……. Why in the world is everyone on the plane and in seatbelts..?! Even the stewardess wearing seatbelts! Is that for your airline works?! I’m not coming close to such an airline!
Just make this story even stronger!!! The fact that they have to come out with this letter…
This is so funny… The airline is trying to save themselves..
No matter what the airline says or doesn’t say, the fact is the plane needed mechanical repair. The engines were on, the plane was getting ready for takeoff and would have done so had she not raised the alarm. I don’t think it was necessary to publish her name but she did well and the passengers should be thankkful.
My wife and I flew from NY to Moscow to ‘Eretz Yisroel one month ago, and we had a GREAT flight. There was more leg room, my wife ‘Brouria’ said, than El Al & Delta, & at a lower cost — around $650. The stewards were very friendly and polite & I’ll fly with them ANY TIME! (We met ‘Chabanicks’ on the flight.)
I also disseminated ‘The 7 Noahide Laws’ along (first) with ‘The Chochmos in the Aleph-Beth’ and the crew (and passengers) loved it! “This is so interesting!” They said. I did this going and coming. ‘Todah raabah’ COLlive.com
They are trying to save the airline.. So definitely they need to do that…
Yes, except other Frum people on the plane verified this account, two days ago, on Dan’s Deals facebook page and not the girls account.
13, you are factually wrong with your “one major factor”
Preflighting is not complete until the engines are fully engaged, which takes place when the plane is “in position”, not when at the gate.
Even if you need to run the engine for a preflight check, that is not done after passengers board and all doors are shut. That is done way before any passenger can leave the gate. This is Russian propaganda, like they didnt invade ukraine, despite truckloads of Russian soldiers driving through the borders.
I think that the girl may be saying the truth and the Russians will lie as they usually do. Despite what number 9 is saying, he is missing one major factor. That is the timing. An airline that discovered a problem in the precheck, does not run the engine to prepare for takeoff and make that decision later. . Had they made the decision in the beginning, it would be different. Her pr letter does not address the timing at all and is very vague.
Its just the airlines way of saying, “we’re safe, we’re safe.”
It seems that the two events–the girl hearing a noise and a problem being discovered–were independent of each other. The actual problem was not causing the noise and it was not the noise that made them discover the problem.
What’s more serious here is the problem of precedent. Do you want every flight you fly on to be delayed because of hysterical passengers who heard a noise?
Spoke to a dr face to face who was on flight , the girl was the one who alerted the crew etc…..
See, here is the thing. The father claims that it was his daughter’s telling them about it that “saved the plane” The truth is, he had zero information to back up that claim What he had were two pieces of information: 1) His daughter raised a ruckus 2) A problem was found. The very idea that one lead to the other, is based on NOTHING but PURE CONJECTURE!!!! He basically HAD to have made it up, he had no place to “get that info” from! On the other hand, the airline certainly holds the real answers to that. And, the… Read more »
That says “safety is ONE of our top priorities” (and not top period) is an airline I will avoid at all cost
The line in the letter that is most important:
“without comments requested either from….independent aviation experts who could have helped to understand ”
is important. Some parts of the standard preflight cannot be done without turning on the engines fully, which is done when they are in position
don’t they do preflight checking BEFORE everyone boards the plane?
If they knew of the issue, why were they heading to the runway?
My question is why were people already sitting on the plane? Doesn’t it make sense to inspect the plane BEFORE people get on?
Was the aircraft, being inspected on the ground, if that was the case , how come the flight attendants, gave her a hard time. when clearly they must have seen that technicians that were inspecting the plane, which leads us to believe the plane was in the air, which makes their statement totally untrue, which is it!!!???
I would like to add that this account – that the defect was discovered during standard preflight, rather than after relenting to a girl – is consistent with a fellow passenger’s account, who posted two days ago that they were informed of that very night by a member of the flight crew, that there was a problem discovered during preflght..
This isn’t their “media division” making something up 4 days later.